Switchfoot

Saw Switchfoot last night in concert. Amazing venue, small and intimate. Opening act was Copeland, whose set was impressive. I figured the show would be pretty good, but it exceeded my expectations. The crowd was great, too. When Switchfoot came back on stage for an encore, the fire alarm went off but no one moved and the concert kept going. In retrospect, this was probably a terrible idea since there could have been a fire. Jon Foreman (frontman) suggested we just sing louder to drown out the alarm. We complied.

After the show, my friend Sheila and I got our coats out of coat check and headed outside. Tim Foreman (bassist) was already outside. We walked up to him and asked for autographs and pictures with him. He not only complied, but asked our names and shook our hands. We were pretty pleased since we hadn't planned on waiting to meet the band. We decided to wait five more minutes to see if anyone else would come out.

Five minues later, Jon walked out of the tour bus. He greeted a few people just outside of the bus then headed back inside. We continued to wait, figuring he would come back out. He did; he came out with a guitar. Approaching those of us who'd waited (approx. 15 people), he asked if we wanted to hear some more songs and suggested we all head to a nearby cafe. When we arrived, we sat in a small, tight circle while we waited for him to tune his guitar. He played all of our requests. He talked and sang (and we sang along) for over an hour until he was told that he had to get back on the bus - Montreal was the last Canadian show so they probably had a lot of driving to do. He kept putting off his leaving time, saying, "I think I can fit in one more song." He sang mostly older stuff, plus material that has not yet been released - new album material. He then signed any autographs that people wanted. I took a picture with him and we all thanked him for the amazing private show. He was so calm and down to earth. I've had a lot of great concert experiences, but this was BY FAR the best.